Paul Oberjuerge: Check Out Lysacek
Perhaps the most pitiful soul I've seen in Turin was U.S. skater Evan Lysacek after he bombed his short program Tuesday night, falling on a triple and stepping out of another. He appeared to be in shock.
Seems like a nice-enough kid. Trains in L.A. with Frank Carroll. But Evan was a broken dude, late Tuesday, just mumbling and rambling.
Here's the audio I got of him in the mixed zone, moments after he came off the ice. He was still going when I left; I couldn't take any more. It was like watching someone dissolve before your eyes.
"I think I was just sitting in my room all day thinking and, and hoping and hoping for the time to finally come, and it finally came, and I think I was a little bit too excited, and I started rushing, and didn't stick to the timing, that kind of relaxed mentality I usually try and have before a competition. Um, so I really can't analyze it too much 'cuz it wasn't really me skating today.
"It feels like my mind was somewhere else. I was really well-trained. I've been enjoying practice since I got here. But, honestly, I'm extremely disappointed, but more than that I'm shocked at what happened. So, really, really surprised.
"I knew that I was really well-trained and I kept thinking about it all day. I couldn't stop thinking of how I couldn't wait to get on the ice. I just couldn't wait until the time finally came. I kept looking at my watch, and finally it was time to get on the ice. And I think I just ran out of the gate like, like a race horse, and that's not the way to go about a competition at all. You want to be relaxed and kind of slow things down and take it step by step."
He also said, "I had a really off day. It's really disappointing to have it in the Olympics."
He said Frank Carroll was trying to cool him off, before competition. "He was trying to just get me back, mentally, where I needed to be. I'm so shocked. To work so hard ..."
He said the short program is so easy, normally, "I use it as a warmup. I do it three times in a row at practice, that's how easy it is."
On Thursday's free skate: "I hope I can have a decent finish. That was just a fluke. That wasn't me. I don't know how to put it into words."
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